An Introduction

Beneath and Beyond:
Some Unknown Stories of SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER

We are starting a new series with some unknown and interesting stories about Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. These stories will cover their lives and times and have been collected from some rare sources, including some manuscripts in Bengali and French and also appeared in the archives of the newspapers in their times. All the stories in this series are authored by ‘Manik’.

Sri Aurobindo has been called a scholar, a literary critic, a philosopher, a revolutionary, a poet, a yogi and a Maharishi. He was all these and much more. To have even a glimpse of the true Sri Aurobindo, we have to turn to the Mother: “What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world’s history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.” The stories and anecdotes related in this series would be a humble attempt to reconstruct and unveil some of rare glimpses of his life.

From its beginning in November 1926, the Mother was entrusted with its full material and spiritual charge by Sri Aurobindo. Under her guidance, which extended over fifty years, the Ashram has grown into a multifaceted, multinational community that at present consists of millions of people around the world. The Mother also founded the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in 1951, Sri Aurobindo Society in 1960 and the international township Auroville in 1968. These were practical attempts to implement Sri Aurobindo’s vision of new forms of individual and collective life, preparing the way towards a brighter future for the whole earth. The stories on her life will give us a better understanding of her sadhana and Integral Yoga for humanity.